Convicted City Harvest Church leader tried to abscond Singapore by sampan

One of the six convicted City Harvest Church leader, Chew Eng Han, was arrested on a motorised sampan at Pulau Ubin yesterday (Feb 21) for trying to abscond from his impending imprisonment. Acting on a tip-off, the Singapore Police waited in the vicinity of the island’s jetty. At around 8.45am, three police vessels intercepted the sampan heading towards Malaysia, at about 2.4km away from Pulau Ubin.

The 57-year-old was assisted by another 53-year-old who was piloting the sampan. It is unknown how are the two related. A third person arrested is Chew Eng Han’s elder brother, 61-year-old Chew Eng Soon, whom was charged by the police for abetting the escape. S$5,000 cash and fishing equipment were found on the sampan.

Graphic from CNAGraphic from Straits Times

Chew Eng Han is the former fund manager of City Harvest Church, which cheated churchgoers of their tithes into the doomed-singing career of the chief pastor’s wife, Sun Ho. The S$50 million scam saw 6 of the church leaders convicted between 6 months and 3½ years jail sentence, following dramatic court battles of an appeal, the employment of PAP MP Edwin Tong as legal representative and the involvement of Law Minister K Shanmugam. Chew Eng Han was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months.

For attempting to abscond the country, the three face an imprisonment of up to 6 months.